The first documented case of aerial victory by shooting

On 5 October 1914 the first aerial combat took place in which one of the protagonists was shot down (as opposed to having been rammed). This took place above Jonchery-sur-Vesle, near Rheims. In this ‘dogfight’ a Voisin III piloted by Sergeant Joseph Frantz and observer/mechanic/gunner Corporal Louis Quénault of Escadrille V 24, encountered a German Aviatik B.II, which was piloted by Feldwebel Wilhelm Schlichting, accompanied by his observer, Oberleutnant Fritz von Zangen, from Feldflieger-Abteilung 18 (FFA 18), a tactical reconnaissance unit.

Frantz and Quénault had already engaged in combat in the air eleven times but had not until this day managed to shoot down their opponent, due to the poor firepower of their revolvers. But they now had the firepower as Frantz had arranged (totally informally) for a Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine gun to be fitted. 

Frantz took off the plane around 8 a.m. from the Lhéry airfield and climbed to an altitude of 2,000m. Their 'official' bombing mission accomplished, Frantz headed towards the Chemin des Dames. As they flew over the French lines, the two French aviators spotted a German Aviatik. In the course of the confrontation, Corporal Quénault discharged two magazines from the Hotchkiss, each containing 48 rounds, towards the German aircraft, which responded with rifle fire. Following a jam of the machine gun, Quénault resorted to firing at the Aviatik with a rifle.

During the exchange of fire, Quénault, operating the 8 mm Hotchkiss, forced the German aircraft to enter a dive, ultimately crashing into a swamp adjacent to a railway line.

Schlichting was struck by a bullet, resulting in his death, while von Zangen perished in the ensuing crash.

Frantz, who survived the conflict (and was later awarded the Legion of Honour) successfully landed the Voisin at the crash site, whereupon souvenir seekers had already begun to sift through the remnants of the Aviatik. For his actions, Quénault was honoured with the Médaille Militaire.

Numerous witnesses observed the event, and the Daily Telegraph, as reprinted in Flight magazine on 16 October 1914, noted that “All the French troops on the spot forgot the danger of passing shells and jumped out of the trenches to watch the fight.”

The Voisin III was constructed primarily from steel tubes and canvas, with some wooden components, and powered by a 120-horsepower Salmson M9 water-cooled engine. It was equipped with either a flexible .303″ Lewis machine gun or an 8 mm Hotchkiss M1909 machine gun. The steel tube frame allowed the aircraft to carry a bomb load of up to 150 kg (330 lbs) and was designed with fixed quadricycle landing gear, including an observation window in the nose. Over 850 units were produced in France alone, with additional aircraft manufactured under license in twelve other nations, comprising 400 in Russia, 100 in Italy, 50 in Britain, and smaller quantities in Belgium and Romania.

It was used by the RNAS in Gallipoli, where it flew out of Tenedos and Imbros. Although it looks ungainly (a cross between a shopping trolley and a pram) it was effective: it could take two men and a big bomb - Commander Charles Samson (who commanded 3 Squadron RNAS in Gallipoli) improvised with petrol bombs and a 500-lb bomb.

The Voisin emerged as a standard Allied attack aircraft utilised by various military forces during World War I, including those of Belgium, Italy, Romania, the British Commonwealth, Russia (where many were later deployed by Imperial Russian forces against Bolshevik positions during the Russian Revolution), and Serbia. It served as the principal single-engine Allied bomber in 1915.

Sergeant Joseph Frantz, died in Paris in 1979.

A centenary ceremony was held on 5 October 2014 in Jonchery-sur-Vesle during which a commemorative plaque was installed in the presence of the descendants of Joseph Frantz.